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Prop 5: The Sad Legacy of Bipartisan Failure on California Prison Policy

By David Dayen
d-day

Thursday, every living governor in the state stood together at a news event to oppose Prop. 5. The Yes on 5 campaign had exactly the right response - this shows what a bipartisan failure prison policy has been in California, and continues to be. Arianna Huffington has a stellar post about this:

“Here is picture that sums up much that is wrong with American politics. Five governors of California, Democrats and Republicans, joining forces to oppose something that is indisputably in the public interest.

“This is an image that could be repeated, with different faces, in region after region of our country, involving issue after issue. Public officials standing against the public good, with the disastrous results on display from Detroit to Wall Street. All suffering from the same destructive force: the power of entrenched special interests to cloud the vision of our leaders, causing them to thwart good sense, good legislation, and the will of the people”

Huffington rightly points out the horrific state of California prisons"

“California's prisons are a budget-busting debacle. There are currently more than 170,000 inmates crammed into prisons designed to hold 100,000 people. Around 70,000 of these prisoners are nonviolent offenders, with over half of them incarcerated for a drug offense.

“A large part of the problem is a parole system the New York Times recently called "perhaps the most counterproductive and ill-conceived" in the U.S.. California's recidivism rate is 70 percent -- twice the national average. This stems in no small measure from the state's insistence on treating paroled murderers the same way as paroled nonviolent drug offenders. They all spend 3-5 years on parole. This overburdens parole officers, who end up spending very little time with any of their charges -- violent or nonviolent (According to the Times, 80 percent of California parolees have fewer than two 15-minute meetings with their parole officer per month.) Wouldn't it make more sense to keep a closer watch on rapists and killers than on nonviolent drug offenders?

“As a result of this dysfunctional system, prison costs have risen 50 percent since 2000, to over $10 billion a year -- close to 10% of the state's budget (and roughly the same amount California spends on higher education). It costs $46,000 a year to keep a nonviolent prisoner in the state behind bars. Is it any wonder California is gushing red ink?”

And as bad as this sounds, she leaves something out. The health care system is so substandard that California is systematically violating the Constitutional rights of everyone it incarcerates, subjecting them to cruel and unusual punishment. And even after they have been forced by court orders to remedy the situation, the state has refused to do so, setting up a showdown and a possible contempt-of-court order against the Governor himself. This is how big the failure of leadership is on our prisons. The only thing politicians can agree on is that we must keep scaring the citizenry into warehousing prisoners over and over, without trying to actually treat and rehabilitate them.

Huffington then describes Prop. 5:

“Prop 5 is structured to build on the proven success of Prop 36, a law promoting drug treatment over incarceration for nonviolent drug offenders. It was approved by 61 percent of California voters in 2000, despite almost unanimous opposition from public officials. Since being enacted, Prop 36 has saved California taxpayers $2 billion -- and graduated 84,000 people who, according to studies, are far less likely to become repeat offenders [...]

“Yet Prop 5 is struggling because of a very powerful special interest: the prison guards union. It has funneled $1.8 million into the campaign to derail Prop 5.

“For the guards, prison overcrowding means more overtime pay. So the state's prison industrial complex has unleashed the full force of its financial power -- funding an array of ads that blatantly mischaracterize Prop 5. Truth has gone out the window, replaced by overheated claims that the initiative is a "drug dealer's bill of rights," "a get out of jail free card" for meth dealers, and a law that will allow parents to abuse their kids and escape punishment.

“Goodbye reform, hello fear. The special interests are, once again, overwhelming the public interest.”

The prison guards are powerful enough that everyone who might want to be Governor - Jerry Brown, DiFi - would rather break with the stated position of the Democratic Party than defy them. And so these tough on crime Democrats want to jump back into the rabbit hole and further the absolute and utter failure - maybe the biggest failure in the state, demonstrably so - to stay on the good side of a union who can lavish them with campaign contributions. It's utterly disgusting and shameful.

Dave is a writer, comedian and TV/film editor based in Santa Monica. He is an elected member of the Democratic State Central Committee from the 41st Assembly District. He blogs on state and national politics at http://d-day.blogspot.com/

Posted on November 01, 2008

Comments

voters !! you passed the laws that made this messs pay the bills or open the D-- doors

Posted by: demc at November 1, 2008 08:39 AM

In the medical aspect of the whole prison system the federal receivership has had over three years now to make a diffrence. Neither receiver has had a balanced solution to the prison access to medical care problem. You could blame this on the union but to be honest with you it goes squarely back to the receiver and the fact he has hired and maintained ex-wardens on his staff that have alot of input on decisons. He should be hiring stickly medical personal. Inmates should receive the same medical treatment medi-cal patients receive, no more and no less. Guards should not be involved in areas of health care. These should be trained guards that have a understanding of health care and why it is being given. Fighting with the govenor will only make it worse and eventually it will go back to a state system.They should be working togeather to provide reasonable medical care to inmates at a reasonable cost.

Posted by: Pamela S at November 2, 2008 07:04 AM

In the medical aspect of the whole prison system the federal receivership has had over three years now to make a diffrence. Neither receiver has had a balanced solution to the prison access to medical care problem. You could blame this on the union but to be honest with you it goes squarely back to the receiver and the fact he has hired and maintained ex-wardens on his staff that have alot of input on decisons. He should be hiring stickly medical personal. Inmates should receive the same medical treatment medi-cal patients receive, no more and no less. Guards should not be involved in areas of health care. These should be trained security that have a understanding of health care and why it is being given. Fighting with the govenor will only make it worse and eventually it will go back to a state system.They should be working togeather to provide reasonable medical care to inmates at a reasonable cost.

Posted by: Pamela S at November 2, 2008 07:06 AM

Posted by: easyforbuy at May 16, 2009 02:12 AM

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